1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to image processing for preventing forgery of paper money, securities and the like.
2. Description of Prior Art
Recently, a peripheral of a computer such as a scanner or a color printer has improved functions and higher performance, and a possibility is increased that an average consumer can copy paper money, securities and the like easily. Then, effective countermeasures for preventing forgery have been developed. One of methods for preventing forgery is to include a specified pattern in a design of paper money or the like. The specified pattern is embedded in an image so as not to be noticed by a user in the standpoint of prevention of forgery. Image data is analyzed before printing, and when the specified pattern is detected in the image data, normal print operation is stopped.
However, in the prior art technique for preventing forgery in image forming, an input device is fixed as an input system, and the detection of a specified pattern is performed on data depending on the input device. Therefore, the technique cannot be applied to a print system or an image forming device to which a plurality of input devices can be connected. That is, even when correct detection is possible on image data received from a particular input device, it may not be so for image data received from another input device having different characteristics. Therefore it is desirable to detect a specified pattern in an output device independent of the input device.